Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 1

Verses 1-24

XXVII

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH

The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.

Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.

In Isaiah 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.

In Isaiah 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.

In Isaiah 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, "God with us." In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.

The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is "Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.

In Isaiah 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.

In Isaiah 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.

In Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.

In Isaiah 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Matthew 11:1-4).

The passage (Isaiah 42:1-4) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isaiah 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter – one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles – who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. – Revelation 7:17-17

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. – Revelation 3:7

In Isaiah 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

In Isaiah 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:

1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.

2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.

3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Matthew 16:18. It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:

According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 3:10-11.

In Isaiah 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.

In Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 52:9 f.; Isaiah 59:16-21; Isaiah 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation – salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.

In Isaiah 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isaiah 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: "Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth."

In Isaiah 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: "And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken."

The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isaiah 50:4-9; Isaiah 52:13-53:12. In this we have the vision of him giving his "back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair." We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.

The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the "holy remnant," a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 10:20-22; Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 11:16; Isaiah 37:4; Isaiah 37:31-32; Isaiah 46:3. This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.

In Isaiah 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: "Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest," and in Isaiah 44:3: "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring."

In Isaiah 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious."

Isaiah 19:18-25; Isaiah 54:1-3; Isaiah 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isaiah 55.

The Messiah in judgments is found in Isaiah 63:1-6. Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isaiah 11:11-12; Isaiah 60:9-15; Isaiah 66:20. Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; "And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered."

So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?

In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isaiah 11:6-9: "And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea."

The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isaiah 25:8: "He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it," and in Isaiah 26:19: "Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead."

The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of "Paradise Regained" are to be found in Isaiah 25:8, and in two passages in chapter Isaiah 66: Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. – Isaiah 66:10-14

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. – Isaiah 66:22-23

QUESTIONS

1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?

2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?

3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?

4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?

5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?

6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?

7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?

8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?

9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?

10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?

11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?

12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?

13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?

14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?

15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?

16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?

17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?

18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?

19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?

20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?

21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?

22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?

23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?

24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?

25. Where is the great invitation and promise?

26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?

27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?

28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?

29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?

30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?

31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”

Verses 1-30

XI

THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 3

Isaiah 1:1-5:30

There are three things suggested by the word, "vision," in the title, viz:

1. Being a vision, it will frequently speak of events, that are yet future, as if they had already occurred, e.g., Isaiah 3:8; Isaiah 5:13.

2. What is seen in vision must be subject to the laws of the perspective. To illustrate: One who views a series of mountains from a distance may see a number of peaks, which are many miles apart, as one object. Thus in the fulfilment of prophecy, there may be a primary fulfilment and a long distance from that, the larger fulfilment. But they appear to the eye of the prophet as one fulfilment because they are in line with each other. A notable instance of this is seen in the case of the anti-Christs. Antiochus Epiphanes, the first one, was followed by the papacy; then after him comes the World Secular Ruler; and last comes the man of sin, who fills out the outline of all the ones who have preceded him.

3. It is, as a whole, one vision. It consists, indeed, of various parts, but from the outset they present the same vision. Though the visions are greatly diversified in size, form, coloring, and other details, they are in essential character only one vision.

This vision was "concerning Judah and Jerusalem" and yet it embraces a vast variety of nations and countries. There is a primary reference here to Judah versus Israel, but in the scriptural sense, all this prophecy is "concerning Judah and Jerusalem," i.e., the people and city of God. Other nations and countries are spoken of only as they are related to Judah and Jerusalem, or at any rate to the people of God symbolized in those names. The first chapter is the preface to the whole book, whose standpoint is the covenant as set forth in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-32, being especially modeled on Deuteronomy 32, the song of Moses, and consists of "The Great Arraignment," divided into four well-marked messages, in each of which Jehovah is introduced as himself speaking directly to his people. The divisions are as follows: Isaiah 1:2-9; 10-17; 18-23; 24-31.

The first message (Isaiah 1:2-9) opens with an invocation to heaven and earth to hear Jehovah’s indictment against his people, and it contains (1) a charge of rebellion against their nourishing father; (2) a charge of brutish ignorance, indifference, and ingratitude, such as the ox and the ass would not have shown their owners; (3) a charge of corruption and estrangement from Jehovah; (4) a charge of unyielding stubbornness which rendered the chastisement of Jehovah ineffective though stroke upon stroke had fallen upon them until there was not place found on the body for another stroke; (5) a penalty of desolation of their land and the captivity of the people; (6) a hope of an elected remnant who would be purified by the coming affliction upon the nation.

In this paragraph we have a picture of severe chastisements, not of the depravity of human nature, though sin in Israel has, of course, led Jehovah to chastise his rebellious son. In Isaiah 1:9 we have mention of the remnant left by Jehovah. This is the first mention of it and gives us the key to the hope of Israel in this dark hour, a favorite doctrine with Isaiah and Paul.

The second message of the first chapter (Isaiah 1:10-17) contains the charge of formality without spirituality in their religion. They are compared to Sodom and Gomorrah though they abound in their ritualistic service. After showing his utter contempt for this formality without spirituality, Jehovah exhorts them to return to him. The ceremonial is not condemned here, except as it was divorced from the spiritual. The prophet insists that ritual and sacrifice must be subordinated to faith and obedience. This is in harmony with the teaching of Hosea 6:5-6; Micah 6:6-8; and Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 7:21 ff., et al. In Isaiah 1:13 here we have the mingling of wickedness with worship which is an abomination. A real reformation is twofold: (1) cease to do evil; (2) learn to do well. Human activity Isaiah 1:17 emphasized in Isaiah 1:16-17, while divine grace is set forth ia Isaiah 1:18.

The third message of this chapter (Isaiah 1:18-23) is a message of" offered mercy and grace, with an appeal to their reason and an assurance of cleansing from the deepest pollution of sin. There is a back reference here to the promises and threatenings of the Mosaic covenant (Lev. 26; Deut. 30) in which life and death were set before them with an exhortation to choose. There is also a renewed charge here contained in the sad description of the moral degradation of Zion (Isaiah 1:21-23) in which Jerusalem is called a harlot and her wickedness is described as abominable.

The fourth message in this chapter (Isaiah 1:24-31) is a message of judgment on the ungodly. This judgment is both punitive and corrective. God avenges himself on his enemies and at the same time purifies his people, especially the holy remnant, and restores them to their former condition of love and favor. But the utter destruction of transgressors and sinners is positively affirmed, the sinner and his work being consumed. Sin is a fire that consumes the sinner. Therefore sin is suicidal. Isaiah 1:9 is quoted by Paul in Romans 9:29 and is there used by him to prove his proposition that, though Israel was in number like the sands of the sea, only a remnant should be saved. The remnant of the election of grace is both an Old Testament and a New Testament doctrine, as applied to the Jews.

Someone has called Isaiah 2-5 "the true and the false glory of Israel." In chapter I the prominent idea is Justice coming to the help of rejected mercy, and pouring out vengeance on the sinful; in Isaiah 2-5 the idea is one of mercy, by means of justice, triumphing in the restoration of holiness. The characteristic in chapter I is its stern denunciations of the Sinaitic law, while the reference to Psalm 72 is subordinate; the characteristic of Isaiah 2-5 is that, though the menaces of the law are still heard in them, it is only after the clearest assurance has been given that the prophecies of 2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 72 shall be realized.

That Isaiah 2-5 belong to the time of Uzziah, is the natural inference from Isaiah 1:1 and Isaiah 6:1. The contents of the chapters are such as to thoroughly confirm this obvious view. They refer to a period of prosperity (Isaiah 2:6-16) and luxury (Isaiah 3:16-23); when there was great attention to military preparations (Isaiah 2:7; Isaiah 2:15; Isaiah 3:2) and commerce (v. 16), and great reliance on human power (v. 22). Above all, it is only by remembering how, "when Uzziah was strong, his heart was lifted up" (2 Chronicles 26:16), and he invaded the holy place, that we can fully appreciate the emphatic assertion of God’s incomparable exaltation and inviolable sanctity which prevails throughout this section.

In Isaiah 2:1 we have the title to Isaiah 2-5 and it shows that the message is for Judah and not for Israel. In this sense it means the same as in 1:1. The main body of Isaiah 2 (Isaiah 2:7-22) is an expansion of Isaiah 1:31, "the strong one shall be as tow." Isaiah 2:2-4 are intensely messianic and give an assurance that, amidst the wreck of Solomon’s kingdom and earthly Zion, as herein described, the promise made to David shall stand firm. It is the promise of this scripture that a time shall come when controversies shall not be settled by war; they shall be settled by arbitration, and the arbiter is the glorious One of the prophecy, and the principles of arbitration will be his word, the law that goes forth from his mouth. Cf. Micah 4:1-5. We may never know whether it is Isaiah or Micah that is borrowing, or whether both alike quote from some earlier prophet. This glorious and far-reaching prediction has not yet been completely fulfilled. This is the first messianic prophecy of Isaiah, the pre-eminently evangelical prophet.

But what is meant here by "the latter days"? I cite only two scriptures, which tell us exactly what is meant. John, in his first letter says, "this is the last day," or the last time, that is, the times of the gospel are "the latter days." The prophet, Joel, says, "It shall come to pass in the last days," or the latter days, "That God will pour out his Spirit," and we know from the New Testament that this was fulfilled in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of our Lord. It is settled by these words of God that "the latter days" in the Old Testament prophecies are the gospel days of the New Testament. Let us remember that the gospel days are the last days. There is no age to succeed the gospel age. Whatever of good is to be accomplished in this world is to be accomplished in the gospel days, and by the means of the gospel. All this universal peace arbitration, knowledge of the Lord and his kingdom come by means of this same gospel.

I shall not cite the scriptures to prove it, but it is clearly established by the New Testament that the "mountain of the Lord’s house" here is the visible, not invisible, church of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he established himself, empowered it through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and it is through the instrumentality of that church that the great things of this prophecy are to be brought about. This passage distinctly says, "Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Our Saviour came, established his church, and then said, "Go into all the world, etc." and "Ye shall preach the gospel to all nations beginning at Jerusalem." The instrument then, by which these things are to be accomplished is just the gospel which we preach and which people hear and by which they are saved.

It is here prophesied that the nations shall be impressed with the visibility of the Lord’s house, the church, and shall say, "Come, ye, and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob." They shall be enlightened by the light of the church, which being full of the Holy Spirit shall catch the eye of the nations and attract them. Then will they gay, "Come and let us go up to the house of the Lord." The purpose of all this shall be that he may teach them. The church is God’s school and God himself is the teacher) and they are taught the principles of arbitration.

The arbiter of the nations, as here described, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the daysman betwixt the nations. He and the principles of his gospel alone can bring about such a state of things that "there shall be war no more." The result of this arbitration will be universal peace (Isaiah 2:4). This shall be a glorious consummation when will be settled by arbitration controversies of every kind whether between nations or individuals, and righteousness shall prevail throughout the whole world. God’s means of preparation of the nation for the great future, as just shown in the messianic prophecy, are his judgments. These only can prepare the nation for this great future (Isaiah 2:5-4:1), the items of which are (1) the sins to be visited and (2) the classes of objects to be visited by these judgments. The sins to be visited by these judgments (Isaiah 2:5-9) are soothsaying, heathen alliances, luxury, militarism, and idolatry.

The objects against which these judgments are to be brought (Isaiah 2:10-4:1) are everything proud and lofty:

1. Inanimate things that minister to pride, such as cedars and oaks, mountains, military defenses, ships and idols (2:1021).

2. Men, especially the ruling classes (Isaiah 2:22-3:15). In Isaiah 3:4 we have a picture of weak, foolish rulers. Cf. Isaiah 3:12. The ruling classes were especially to blame for the growing sin and corruption of Judah. They were "grinding the face of the poor."

3. Women, for pride and wantonness (Isaiah 3:16-4:1). Here let us recall the indictment of the cruel, carousing women by Amos (Amos 4:1-3), and the words of Hosea about the prevalence of social impurity in his day (Hosea 4:2; Hosea 4:13-14). Isaiah dumps out the entire wardrobe of the luxurious sinner of the capital city. What a pity that wicked Paris should set the fashions for Christian women!

After this blast of judgments then follow the messianic prosperity, purity, and protection (Isaiah 4:2-6), a beautiful picture on a very dark background. Here we have the first mention of the’ key word, "Branch," in "the Branch of the Lord."

The subject of Isaiah 5 is the vineyard and its lessons, and the three essential things to note are: (1) the disappointing vineyard and its identification; (2) a series of woes announced; and (3) the coming army.

The prophet shows great skill here in securing attention by reciting a bit of a love song and then gliding gradually into his burning message to a sinful people. The description of this vineyard in the text is vivid and lifelike, showing the pains taken by the owner in preparing, tending, and guarding it. The great pains thus taken enhanced the expectation and, therefore, the disappointment. So, in despair and disgust he destroyed the vineyard and made its place desolate.

The prophet identifies the vineyard with Israel and Judah which had their beginnings, as a nation, with Abraham, and from the day of its planting it was under the special care of Jehovah. He always gave it the most desired spot in which to dwell, both in Egypt and in Canaan, but it never did live up to its opportunities and more, it never did yield the fruits of justice and righteousness, but instead, oppression and a cry. These general terms give way to the particular in the woes that follow. There are six distinct woes pronounced (Isaiah 5:8-23) against sinners in this paragraph, as follows:

1. Woe unto the land monopolies. This is a picture of what may be observed in many parts of the world today. Monopolies lead to loneliness and desolation. God is against the land shark. For a description of conditions, similar to Isaiah’s, in England, gee Goldsmith’s Deserted Village, in which are found these lines: Ill fares the land, to hastening his a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay.

2. Woe unto the drunken revelers. This is a vivid picture of wine with its accompaniments and results. People inflamed with strong drink relish a kind of music which is not very religious. These musical instruments are all right but they were put to the wrong use. Intoxicating drinks not only pervert the instruments of the Lord, but they make their subjects disregard the works and rights of Jehovah. In Isaiah 5:13 we see the effect of spiritual ignorance, which is captivity, perhaps the Babylonian captivity, or it may refer to Israel’s captivity already begun. Sheol in Isaiah 5:14 refers to the place of the departed, the underworld in which the "shades" rested. Here the picture is that of the increasing multitudes in the spirit world because of their disobedience here and God’s destruction of them, after which their land becomes the pasture for the flocks of foreign nomads.

3. Woe unto the defiant unbelievers. This is a picture of the harness of sin, and awful effect produced on those who follow its course. They are harnessed by it and rush madly on in their defying of the Holy One of Israel.

4. Woe unto the perverters of moral distinction, calling evil good, and good evil, putting darkness for light, and light for darkness. Their moral sense is so blunted that they cannot make moral distinctions, as Paul says in Hebrews, "not having their senses exercised to distinguish between good and evil."

5. Woe unto the conceited men, perhaps their politicians. They are often so wise that they cannot be instructed, but they can tell us how to run any kind of business, from the farm to the most intricate machinery of the government. They may have never had any experience in the subject which they teach, yet they can tell those who have spent their lives in such service just how to run every part of the business down to the minutest detail. But they are really "wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight."

6. Woe unto drunken officers, who justify the wicked for a bribe and pervert justice. When one is once allowed to look in upon our courts of justice (?) he can imagine that Isaiah was writing in the age in which we live. He goes on to show the just punishment that they were destined to receive because of their rejection of the law of Jehovah and because they despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

The conditions herein set forth (Isaiah 5:25-30) reach beyond those of the Assyrian invasion and find a larger fulfilment in the carrying away of Judah by the Chaldeans. Here Jehovah is represented as giving the signal and the call to the nations to assemble for the invasion of Judah and Israel, which may apply either to the Assyrians or to the Chaldeans and, perhaps, to both. Then the prophet describes the speed with which they come and do their destructive work, which may apply to the march of the Assyrians against Samaria and the Chaldeans against Jerusalem. (For minute details of description see the text.) The prophet closes his description of this invading army (or armies) and their destructive work, with Israel in the deepest gloom, which was fulfilled in three instances: (1) the capture of Samaria by the Assyrians; (2) the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; (3) the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Perhaps all three of these events are in the perspective of the prophet’s vision, which constitute the dark picture and disappointing gloom with which he closes chapter 5 and section I of his book.

Isaiah 6 gives us Isaiah’s encouraging vision of Jehovah. The preceding section closed in the deepest gloom; the light of prophecy only made the darkness more fearful. Already the heir of David’s throne, Uzziah, had been "humbled" by God’s stroke, "cut away" as a withered branch, excluded from the house of the Lord, and continued till death "unhealed of his plague." The prophet had delivered his message faithfully, but being only a man, he was conscious of the failure of his message, and therefore, at such a time he needed the comforting revelation of Jehovah, just such as the vision of Isaiah 6 affords. Thus Jehovah, as he comforted Abraham, Jacob, Moses Joshua, Elijah, the twelve, Paul, and John, in their darkest hours by a vision of himself, so here he comforts Isaiah in his gloom of despondency.

A brief outline of Isaiah 6 is as follows:

1. The heavenly vision, a vision of the Lord, his throne, his train, the seraphim with six wings each and saying, "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts." These creatures are God’s attendants and the six wings represent the speed with which they fly in carrying out his behests, but when in divine presence four of them were used for another purpose. One pair veiled the seraph’s face from the intolerable effulgence of divine glory; another pair veiled his feet, soiled in various ministrations, which were not meet for the all-pure presence.

2. The sense of unworthiness produced by the vision and the symbolic cleansing which encouraged him in his mission. Here the prophet acts very much as Job and John did when they saw his holiness, crying out, "unclean." This is a most natural result from the contrast between relative and absolute holiness. Job maintained his integrity until he saw the Lord and then he was ready to say, "I abhor myself and repent." So John fell at the feet of the glorious Son of God as one dead, and Peter said, "Depart; I am a sinful man." With these examples before us we may conclude that he who boasts of his holiness advertises thereby his guilty distance from God.

3. The offer for service, which naturally follows such a preparation as Isaiah had just received. This, too, is an expression of renewed courage, in the face of such a dark prospect.

4. The message and its effect. He was to preach with the understanding that his message would not be received and that the hearer, because of this message, would pass under the judicial blindness. This passage is quoted by our Lord (Matthew 13:14-15) to show the same condition in his day and that the responsibility for this condition did not rest upon the prophet or the preacher but that it was the natural result of an inexorable law, viz: that the effect of the message on the hearer of it depends altogether upon the attitude of the hearer toward the message. Them that reject, it hardens and them that accept, it gives life. Thus it has ever been with subjects of gospel address, but the message must be delivered whether it proves a savor of life unto life or of death unto death.

5. The terrible judgments to follow. Here the prophet asks, "How long is to continue this judicial blindness?" and the answer comes back, "Until cities are laid waste, etc." This includes their captivity in Babylon, their rejection of the Saviour and consequent dispersion, and will continue until the Jews return and embrace the Messiah whom they now reject until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

6. The final hope expressed. This is the hope of the "remnant," "the holy seed." This was Isaiah’s hope of Israel in his day; it was Christ’s hope of Israel in his day; it was Paul’s hope of Israel in his day, and is it not our hope of Israel in our day? "The remnant according to the election of grace."

QUESTIONS

1. What three things are suggested by the word, "vision," in the title?

2. How do you explain the fact that this vision was "concerning Judah and Jerusalem" and yet it embraces a vast variety of nations and countries?

3. What relation does Isaiah 1 sustain to the whole book, what it standpoint, after what is it modeled, and of what does it consist?

4. What are the contents of the first message?

5. What expressions in this paragraph are worthy of note and what is their application?

6. What is the second message of Isaiah 1 (Isaiah 1:10-17)?

7. What is the third message of this chapter (Isaiah 1:18-23), what the back reference here and what the renewed charge?

8. What is the fourth message in this chapter (Isaiah 1:24-31) and what in particular, the hope here held out to Judah?

9. What is the New Testament quotation from this chapter and what use is there made of it?

10. What is the nature of the contents of Isaiah 2-5 and what the relation of this section to Isaiah 1?

11. To what period of time does the section (Isaiah 2-5) belong and what the proof?

12. What is the title to this section and what does it include?

13. What is the close relation of Isaiah 1-2?

14. What is the assurance found in the introduction (Isaiah 1:2-4) and how does this passage compare with Micah’s prophecy on the same point?

15. What is meant here by "the latter days"?

16. What is meant by "the mountain of the Lord’s house"?

17. What means shall be used by the church in accomplishing these results?

18. What spirit of inquiry is here awakened?

19. To what purpose shall all this be?

20. Who is to be the arbiter of the nations, as here described?

21. What is the result of this arbitration?

22. What God’s means of preparation of the nation for the great future, as just shown in the messianic prophecy, and what, in general the items of judgment?

23. What are the sins to be visited by these judgments (Isaiah 2:5-9)?

24. What are the objects against which these judgments are to be brought (Isaiah 2:10-4:1)?

25. What shall follow these judgments on God’s people (Isaiah 4:2-6)?

26. What is the subject of Isaiah 5 and what the three main points in it?

27. Describe the disappointing vineyard.

28. Identify this vineyard and show its parallels in history.

29. Itemize the woes that follow (Isaiah 5:8-23) and note the points of interest in each case.

30. What is the coming army as predicted in Isaiah 5:25-30 and what the parallels of this prophecy and its fulfilment?

31. What is the subject of Isaiah 6 and what its relation to the section (Isaiah 2-5) and what its bearing on the condition of Judah at this time?

32. Give a brief outline of Isaiah 6 and the application of each point.